title: Psoriasis vulgaris and familial cancer risk- a population-based study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Follow-up studies of psoriasis patients indicate an increased risk in the occurrence of malignancies at different sites of origin. Population stratification and/or complicated interpretation of evidence on the risk of cancer (due to the small number of patients included in most series) lead to inconsistent data. Herein we investigated the risk of occurrence of malignancies at different sites of origin in a series of 517 psoriasis patients and their 1st degree relatives.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated the tumour spectrum as well as the age of the patient at diagnosis of cancers in psoriasis families along with the observed and expected frequencies of malignancies. The distribution of 17 common mutations/polymorphisms in 10 known cancer susceptibility genes among psoriasis patients and 517 matched healthy controls were examined. No such study has been published to date.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The statistical comparison of the observed and expected frequencies of cancers revealed a higher than expected occurrence of Hodgkin's lymphoma among males in psoriasis families when compared to the general population (OR=1.8, 95%CI 1.6-2.1, p=0.002). There was a non-significant tendency towards a younger age of onset and overrepresentation of laryngeal cancer and leukaemia in psoriasis families. We found no major differences in the distribution of cancer susceptibility mutations among our cases and the healthy controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of our study suggest an increased risk of Hodgkin's lymphoma for male members of psoriasis families. Further studies are needed to confirm the findings and to evaluate whether or not the application of cancer surveillance protocols for Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukaemia and laryngeal cancer are justified in these families.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Pathology, International Hereditary Cancer Center, Pomeranian Medical University, Połabska 4, 70-115 Szczecin, Poland. debniak@pum.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Romuald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maleszka
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Paszkowska-Szczur
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Soczawa
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boer
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Różewicka-Czabańska
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiśniewska
authors.forename: Aneta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mirecka
authors.forename: Lidia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Krysztoforska
authors.forename: Zygmunt
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Adamski
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lubinski
authors.forename: Tadeusz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dębniak